IDW - Transformers Wreckers: Tread and Circuits #1

Written by: David Mariotte

Art by: Jack Lawrence

Colours by: Candice Han

Letters by: Jake M. Wood & Nathan Widick

Editor: Riley Farmer

Supervising Editor: Tom Waltz

Plot

The Wreckers perform a death-defying stunt, a sub-orbital jump from their ship to a planet's surface, without any safety devices, which is broadcasted to their loyal viewbase across the universe, when it is interrupted by Mayhem, a terrorist cell, who demand that Velocitron cancel it's upcoming Speedia 500, and not decide their leadership that way. To prove their seriousness, they kill a former competitor, Electrons, on screen. The Wreckers manage to get control of their signal, and close off the broadcast properly.

Once the cameras are shut down, the Wreckers are back to their real business, guns out and ready to fight if Mayhem are nearby. The team, really an elite covert squad that works outside of Colonial Security, and are now on the mission to take down Mayhem.

Later, the Wreckers arrive on Velocitron, where Thunderclash announces to the gathered crowd that they are going to enter the Speedia 500 to prove that they aren't afraid of Mayhem, much to Aileron's annoyance, since she's planned a covert mission for them to investigate them secretly.

Circuit sneaks away from the ship, to avoid the cameras and crowd, since he feels like a outcast since losing his alternate mode during the Iron Hope incident. He decides to try and scout out the planet to find a potential hideout for Mayhem, but finds himself abused by the Velocitronians, who are all about speed, so a mode-locked bot like him isn't welcome...

After Aileron and Thunderclash argue about the latter's decision to make their mission public, and he agrees that he might have made a mistake in that, they rejoin the rest of the team in a communal area in the ship, when Aileron realizes that Circuit isn't back from his exploration yet!

Back on the streets, Circuit is chased by someone down a tight alleyway, and is shocked when he realizes that his pursuer is Acer, another of the Iron Hope 100 on his Turbo Cycle, who asks what he's doing there...

Characters

Autobot/Wrecker

Thunderclash - Truck

Hot Shot - Jeep

Ricochet - Car

Minerva - Car

Aileron - Jet

Circuit 

Mayhem

Octopunch

Skullgrin

Submarauder 

Velocitronian

Road Pig - Motorcycle

Electrons - Car Killed by Octopunch 

Velocitronian Crowd

Road Rocket - Motorcycle (Hologram)

Blurr - Race Car (Hologram)

Other Cybertronian

Axer 

Primus (Mentioned)

Mortilus (Mentioned)

Exarchon (Mentioned)

The Three-fold Spark (Mentioned)

The Iron Hope 100 (Mentioned)

Colonial Security (Mentioned)

Rust Worms (Mentioned)

Turbofoxes (Mentioned)

Notes

• We don't know when in the continuity this story is set. We don't see any Decepticons in the story (unless Mayhem reveal badges later on) and the Wreckers openly wear Autobot insignias, which would mark them as being part of Optimus' army rather than travelling performers in the current storyline's setting. My guess is that this is set just before the war broke out.
• The only two members of the Wreckers based on recent toys are Hot Shot and Ricochet, who were both in the Selects toyline, and are also shown this issue to be rivals.
• Aileron appears this issue, having had a cameo in the Valentine's Day special, though in that story she was shown as a larger robot, rather than standard sized, like she is here.
• The Speedia 500 and other such races have been a focal point of Velocitron's lore since it was introduced in the Cyberton cartoon, in luding it being used to decide on the leadership of the planet. I am surprised that Override isn't the planet's leader in this continuity, like she usually is though...
• Circuit mentions that he used to focus everything of his life into "being a camera" before losing his alternate mode in the Iron Hope incident. This could mean that Circuit used to have a camera alternate mode, but due to the leftover kibble.on his body lookig more like car parts, I'm assuming he is just refering to his chronicler job, and not his alternate mode.
• Thunderclash mentions that Aileron is entering the Speedia 500...but she has a flying alternate mode...unless she also has a car mode too, like Road Rage, but there's no evidence of that yet.